It is said that people never die until the last person says their name. In memory of the writer and director Paul Auster, who passed away this week, we're sharing this conversation we had back in 2017 after the publication of his novel 4 3, 2, 1. Auster reflects on his body of work, life, and creative process.

Paul Auster was the bestselling author of Winter Journal, Sunset Park, Invisible, The Book of Illusions, and The New York Trilogy, among many other works. He has been awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, the Prix Médicis étranger, an Independent Spirit Award, and the Premio Napoli. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has also penned several screenplays for films such as Smoke (1995), as well as Lulu on the Bridge (1998) and The Inner Life of Martin Frost (2007), which he also directed.

“But what happens is a space is created. And maybe it’s the only space of its kind in the world in which two absolute strangers can meet each other on terms of absolute intimacy. I think this is what is at the heart of the experience and why once you become a reader that you want to repeat that experience, that very deep total communication with that invisible stranger who has written the book that you’re holding in your hands. And that’s why I think, in spite of everything, novels are not going to stop being written, no matter what the circumstances. We need stories. We’re all human beings, and it’s stories from the moment we’re able to talk.”

We apologize for the quality of the recording since it was not originally meant to be aired as a podcast. Portrait of Paul Auster by Mia Funk, inspired by his novel 4,3,2,1.

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/1045/paul-auster
www.creativeprocess.info
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“We started our book Optimal reviewing research done at Harvard Business School, where hundreds of men and women kept journals of what their day was like at work, how they felt, what happened. From that emerged a composite of an optimal state; a state when people are fully engaged in what they're doing, they're very focused, they feel good. They're highly productive, because they're at their best, and they feel very connected to people around them. It's a very positive state, and we feel that it's a state people can enter voluntarily—unlike flow, for example, which is that one time you outdid yourself. You were spectacular, but you can't make it happen. It's like grace, it falls from the sky. But optimal is, we think, attainable—by people who just focus on what they need to do, on what's important right now. That's one way to get into the optimal state.”

Daniel Goleman is an American psychologist, author, and science journalist. Before becoming an author, Goleman was a science reporter for the New York Times for 12 years, covering psychology and the human brain. In 1995, Goleman published Emotional Intelligence, a New York Times bestseller. In his newly published book Optimal, Daniel Goleman discusses how people can enter an optimal state of high performance without facing symptoms of burnout in the workplace.

www.danielgoleman.info
www.harpercollins.com/products/optimal-daniel-golemancary-cherniss?variant=41046795288610

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/69105/emotional-intelligence-by-daniel-goleman/

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org
IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

How can we enhance our emotional intelligence and avoid burnout in a changing world? How can we regain focus and perform in an optimal state? What do we mean by ecological intelligence?

Daniel Goleman is an American psychologist, author, and science journalist. Before becoming an author, Goleman was a science reporter for the New York Times for 12 years, covering psychology and the human brain. In 1995, Goleman published Emotional Intelligence, a New York Times bestseller. In his newly published book Optimal, Daniel Goleman discusses how people can enter an optimal state of high performance without facing symptoms of burnout in the workplace.

“We started our book Optimal reviewing research done at Harvard Business School, where hundreds of men and women kept journals of what their day was like at work, how they felt, what happened. From that emerged a composite of an optimal state; a state when people are fully engaged in what they're doing, they're very focused, they feel good. They're highly productive, because they're at their best, and they feel very connected to people around them. It's a very positive state, and we feel that it's a state people can enter voluntarily—unlike flow, for example, which is that one time you outdid yourself. You were spectacular, but you can't make it happen. It's like grace, it falls from the sky. But optimal is, we think, attainable—by people who just focus on what they need to do, on what's important right now. That's one way to get into the optimal state.”

www.danielgoleman.info
www.harpercollins.com/products/optimal-daniel-golemancary-cherniss?variant=41046795288610

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/69105/emotional-intelligence-by-daniel-goleman/

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org
IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast